TMC not only glamorized Tollabaji ::: In industrial sector, it brought in Structural Decline :::: Over 6,688 companies relocated registered offices out of West Bengal from 2011 till 2025

The first phase of polling in West Bengal will take place on April 23. 

In the unprecedented scale of campaigning and mudslinging; major issues concerning the future of the state got derailed. One such issue has been structural decline in the industrial sector.

Over 6,688 companies relocated registered offices out of West Bengal from 2011 till 2025 

TMC not only glamorized Tollabaji ::: In industrial sector, it brought in Structural Decline  

In broad sense, industrial atmosphere in West Bengal starting from the Left regime and even earlier; was/is opinionated by a political movement  that ensures  

... electoral incentives to resist growth and industrial development. 

 The Trinamool Congress (TMC) years after 2011 brought different language than that of the Left regime but similar structural outcomes. 

Around 110 listed firms also quit the state, according to Govt disclosures in Parliament.

Critics accuse the TMC of fostering a "syndicate" culture, where local leaders dominate construction and supply sectors, discouraging legitimate investment.

Infrastructure and Policy: Inadequate infrastructure expenditure and as some describe it, poor industrial policy have been cited as key factors leading to the decline, resulting in a low 2.95% expenditure on infrastructure by 2022–23.

The state’s share in national GDP has slid further to 5.6% in 2023-24, from 10.5% in 1960-61. This has been the sharpest long-run decline of any major Indian state. 

Per capita income, once 127.5% of the national average, now stands at 83.7%.  

There have been issues with policy decisions of the political ad administrative leadership. 

Even with Singur - a wrong messaging had gone down the line. 

The problem at Singur was not that large industry cannot be established in West Bengal. 

The land acquisition process was erroneous and coercive. The compensation regime was not well defined and was ill-structured.

Unionism meant there would "electoral incentives and dividends" for ensuring joblessness and total absence of a good and smooth efficient working culture. 

West Bengal has a specific legislative barrier in the West Bengal Land Reforms Act,

It says there has to be "case-by-case" state approval for landholding beyond 24 acres for industrial purposes.

There is no smooth Land Bank Authority 

The BJP - if comes to power - will have to work towards a rules-based transparent framework.

In today's system; there is a sweeping power for discretionary political clearance.

There would be need of a new structure under which -- Corporate efficiency of Gujarat Model or even Hyderabad Model must be brought in. 

But many say in initial years - the chief minister will have to show Political Guts and even experiment with the Yogi's Bulldozer (read firmness) Model of Uttar Pradesh.  

Old Records and Good Deeds thrown away by Misgovernance and Trade unionism  

In 1947 and after, West Bengal started on a strong foundation.

- ** There was a dense railway network

** A highly literate and commercially sophisticated workforce

*** Proximity to the coal and steel belts of the then Bihar and present day Jharkhand and parts of rural Odisha.

*** There was also a deep-water port with direct access to global shipping lanes.

But all these advantages now look fictional or have disappeared. 

In 1950-51, everyone knew Calcutta as the undisputed industrial nerve centre. 

West Bengal had 1,493 registered factories — the highest in numbrs in any state.

Even the combined total of Maharashtra and Gujarat was less than of Bengal.

The Organised sector employment in Bengal then stood at 27% of the national share and the industrial output at 24%. 

The Hooghly belt ran world-class jute processing, heavy engineering workshops.

Wrap up

The symptoms of destabilisation of the economic equilibrium of the state and chiefly the onetime industrial regions around the locked out industries have become so normal and yet pathetic stories. Meeting former workers in these regions and sub-regions will give glimpses of different stories of workers being betrayed. 

An overwhelming of them had voted for Mamata in 2011 and also in subsequent elections. Except for freebies; nothing much seemed to have happened.   

In the 1960s and 1970s; it was a different world and a different Bengal too.

In circa 2026 - it may sound unsound.

After partition members of 'refugee colonies' - mostly Hindus  and some even from adjoining places in Bihar and Odisha, secured employment. 

Even then there was an effort to provide economic independence to women.

There were mills with crèches even 70 years back. 

Most of these mills supported setting up of consumer co-operatives to offer workers with fair price shops. 

Economic support for children’s education was easily available from the management. It maybe surprising to hear the emotional outbursts of surviving old timers.

The management was not a bad word. The company often helped in carrying out expenses of religious festivals, community gatherings and health related matters. But once unionism strengthened its grip -contrast to what was expected; things collapsed. 

Will things be corrected post May 4 ?

ends